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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN RAWEEMC 2021/04/20 2020-2022Committee on Regenerative Agriculture, Water, Energy, And Environmental Management 6th Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawai i April 20, 2021 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Regenerative Agriculture, Water, ORDER: Energy and Environmental Management was called to order at 1:33 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair. R(1T T CAT T Present: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: COMMUNI- CATIONS: The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. (There were none.) The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. Comm. 207: REQUESTS A DISCUSSION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT REGARDING THE PROHIBITION OF TRAILERS AT PUBLIC WASTE FACILITIES EXCEPT FOR THE SOUTH HILO TRANSFER STATION AND THE WEST HAWAII SANITARY LANDFILL From Council Member Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, dated April 9, 2021. Motion to Close File: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder moved to close file on Comm. 207. Seconded by Ms. Kierkiewicz. CHR. RICHARDS: Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. I asked for a brief discussion with the Director of Environmental Management regarding the recent Administrative Rule from the department regarding trailer uses after being—you know, I had a lot of response from the community for this when it was first talked about, and then it disappeared for a minute and then it came back. So with that said, I wanted to just kind of clarify some of the things around this rule, what a rule is, and where it comes from. And hopefully maybe an outcome of this would be to look for a way or a solution for some of the people to use trailers, not in a commercial sense, but our kupuna or our folks in rural areas who don't have access to Hilo or Kona where the facilities still allow a trailer to be used who are going to be put at a disadvantage by this rule. That's essentially what this is about. So thank you for being here today Director, and thank you for the time today Council. I don't know if anyone else was contacted, but I was contacted repeatedly. CHR. RICHARDS: Well I'm going to jump in on this and say, yes, I was contacted. So it's my understanding that Director Ramzi is in chambers with us and Deputy Iokepa is in Hilo. Do I understand that? MR. MANSOUR: That's correct. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, so with that, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, I understand they have a presentation for us. So Mr. Ramzi, I know you're living the dream, take over. (Note: At this time, Environmental Management Director Ramzi Mansour, Deputy Director Brenda Iokepa-Moses, and Solid Waste Division Chief Gregory Goodale came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. MANSOUR: Aloha Chair, and Vice Chair and Committee Members. Definitely this issue came about, the rule were enacted last year in November 19, I believe it came in front of the committee. CHR. RICHARDS: Yeah, go ahead and take off, yeah, thank you. And get a little closer to the mic. MR. MANSOUR: Thank you. I could breathe better. Thanks. Yeah, so definitely I have with me in the Hilo Office staff, Greg Goodale, he's the Chief, and Brenda. This came about right before the new Administration took over the department. And it was supposed to be enacted on in December, and they put a date of March 31 ". And then when it was brought to our attention, we decided to give it another Page 2 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 45 -days to kind of investigate it. Do more study, and look at the safety issues that was around this whole idea of banning the trailers. So we were able to work with the Mayor's Office, and include it as part of the proclamation. So we got 45 -days extension, which that took us to April 16, deadline to ban these trailers. The safety was our major concern, so what we did I instructed Brenda and staff to put a Safety Committee. The Safety Committee consisted of a person from Risk Management Office which is a department, a Human Resource Manager, and Safety Specialist, and our Safety Specialist within our department. These four individuals went to every transfer station on the island, took a truck and took a trailer with them. And they tried to maneuver with that within the facility that was given. And in their final reports, definitely safety is a major concern. These facilities are not designed, or intended for these large trailers to come in. So these sites, end up evolving to become in a landfill on its own because people start giving the tendency to get away from the original intent, and start bringing these large trailers in. So the recommendation from the Safety Committee is to ban these trailers. They also recommended that we could through the construction expense, and modify three of them to allow for these trailers. But like I said, given the construction cost, and the funding that we could look at it this coming year and see maybe the year after. So the idea is number one, you know, we don't have the money to fund these transfer stations to modify them. Number two, is we're looking at a strategic planning of how we're going to get a better option on our operation staff, or like putting together operation plan with options of are the transfer stations our only options, or should we start looking at collections? So all of these are being looked at, but in the meantime the Admin Rule wasn't acted on last year. And even I talked to our Corporate Counsel, and the direction I was given it's not under my authority to either continue with the program or deny because there's that legal process that takes place. With that I could leave it to my staff from the Hilo side, if they want to chime in and add to that or I could take any questions. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, Director, hang on. Just from a housekeeping issue, we have the State weighing in on the next committee Government Operations at about 2:15, so we are under a timeline. If this conversation continues what we will do is to recess at 2:15 or probably 2:10, which will allow the next committee to come into session and then take the conversation from the State. And then we'll go back to this. So I just wanted to put it on the timeline, seeing how this conversation goes. So with that Director, do I have questions? Or Brenda, does she have a presentation or how are we going to handle this, Director? MR. IOKEPA-MOSES: Hi. Yeah, we just have the report that we supplied to the Council. And like Ramzi had said, we utilize the opportunity that the Mayor gave us during the COVID to prolong this decision. Just to have our own safety Page 3 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 analysis, we have Steven here that performed the safety with the crew, and we also have Greg here. But basically, you know, we understand the hardship, but we're not willing to sacrifice safety for convenience. So you know, we're behind this rule, because of the determination that the Safety Committee has made. So if you guys have any questions, we do have Steven here that performed that safety inspection. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. So with that, then we're going to open it up for questions. So Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Hi. Did we get a copy of the report? MR. MANSOUR: Yeah. You could have a copy, I could have it emailed to your office. I have one copy here with me, the executive summary of the report. I'll give it to you, or I'll email it to you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: If you could forward that to the Council, I don't think we received anything. MS. IOKEPA-MOSES: Yeah, we did submit that to Maile David, stamped here yesterday at 3:30 p.m. Communication 207. 1, thank you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, got it. Thank you. I'm just going to shoot real quick then. What is the definition of a large trailer? MR. MANSOUR: Greg will answer that, I guess. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Greg. MR. GOODALL Yeah, good afternoon. Greg Goodale, Solid Waste Division Chief. So the way the rule was written up, matter of fact it was consideration when this rule was written as to whether there was an appropriate size of a trailer that could come into the refuse transfer stations. And ultimately, the determination was that, there was no size trailer that we felt was appropriate. So there was never like a determination as to breaking it down to size, it basically just says no trailer. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then safety issue, did you do a test at each site then, across the island? MR. GOODALL So there was a group that did go evaluate at each site, yes. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: What were those sites, is that the ones that's listed on this report one through nine? MR. GOODALL Yes, correct. Page 4 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So Kea`au, Pahoa, Mala, Ocean View, Ke`ei, Keahou, Waimea, Kohala, and Honoka`a. MR. GOODALE: Correct. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then what were the major safety issues that you found? MR. GOODALE: So the safety—so basically just going back to the report, and I'm just kind of going to go back to the end. So you know, as the Director said, there were some sites that did say with some modification could be used. But the primary issues was the tight confines of trying to be able to pull in, straighten the trailer up and back into such a narrow unloading zone. You know, without any kind of potential for, you know, coming into contact with say an adjacent vehicle, or even—and what we've had a lot experience with is trailers that have actually backed into our actual facility. So not stopping at the wall, backing into the wall itself, and backing into the area around the wall. But a lot of it is just the small amount of room that there is to actually maneuver, you know, a vehicle with a tow behind trailer. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. When was the first news of this out? Regarding this Admin Rule? MR. GOODALE: For the Admin Rule it's required that you do public hearing, and I can't tell you the exact date the public hearing was held. As a matter of fact I think there was two different public hearings that were held, but I couldn't give you the specific dates on that we could get back to you with that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I think the dates that I have were late November in 2020, which I thought would have made it difficult for the community to attend those meetings given Thanksgiving and COVID. MR. GOODALE: Yeah. Again, I would have to go back to look, I believe it was earlier on in the month. But again, I'd have to go back to look at that to tell you a specific dates on that. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay. And then just real quickly, your Admin Rules, and this maybe for the Director for Corporation Counsel, but Admin Rules, why can we not address this througha revised Admin Rule not a lengthy process from what I'm understanding. What I just heard. MR. MANSOUR: Probably that maybe I'll refer that to Corporate Counsel, because when they draw the rules there's a certain appeal process before you go through the revision. Like I said, probably I'll refer that to Corporate Counsel. Page 5 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Corporation Counsel can you come up, Ms. Strance? Thank you. For us the Council doesn't have a lot of say over an Administrative Rule, from what I've come to understand. But given the community want for some changes in this rule, I thought it interesting that we cannot address this with a change of the Administration Rule without an appeal process. (Note: At this time, Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance came forward to address the members pf the Committee.) MS. STRANCE: Good afternoon, Elizabeth Strance, Corporation Counsel. If I could have just a couple of minutes, you may have the Deputy who's been involved in this available. And if so, I would rather have her testify regarding your question. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, understood. Thank you. MS. STRANCE: Thank you. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: While I wait on that rule, Chair, I'm going to yield for Council Members if they want any part of this discussion. Thank you very much. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Other Council Members? I am seeing no lights on. While we are waiting for a Deputyoh, I see one. Ms. Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Sorry, Chair. Thank you. Betsy, I actually had a question about some of the other language in this particular rule. There's the definition of the prohibited vehicles trailers, and dump -bed trucks. Are dump bed trucks, different then flatbed trucks? This is actually coming from a recent constituent call, who tried to come in and dump from a flatbed and was told to go away. But it doesn't have the dumping capability. MR. MANSOUR: Yeah, I'll refer that to our Division Chief. Because there's a difference between a flatbed truck, verses a dump -bed truck but I'll let him confirm that. MR. GOODALE: Sure, yeah. So no, a flatbed truck just the end of itself is not prohibited. More often than not what ends up making a flatbed truck prohibited, would be if it's for commercial use if it's a commercial -type truck. But a dump bed is a truck bed that's specifically designed to have, you know, hydraulic lifting cylinders that lift the bed up. You know, like a normal dump truck. And that became a problem at several of our sites. Over time we've had folks that, you know, commercial vehicles. And that's been kind of one of our constant Page 6 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 challenges is getting folks that come to our refuse transfer station with commercial -use vehicles. So one thing that was actually done as part of this Administrative Rule updates, is we did—because we get folks that come and don't have any other vehicle, so they say maybe a one man operation, a one person operation where they have just a single vehicle that may also be their running around town, you know, going to get the groceries kind of vehicle but it might have their company logo on it. What we did is we made an exception on that, we said for a commercial vehicle of that nature they were allowed to bring two 33 -gallon bags a day. So that way for the person that maybe doesn't have any another vehicle, we don't run into these issues. But again, I don't know in the case that you brought up, that it was for sure a commercial. But often times when it's like a flatbed or something of that nature, it often times is a commercial -type truck. But again, not always. So you know, our guys they're instructed to, you know, approach and talk from the standpoint, whether or not it's a commercial vehicle. If it's not a commercial vehicle, then it's considered residential and then it's just applied the three cubic yard maximum load size. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you. Yeah, actually the situation is exactly what you described. It's a flatbed truck, it's their one vehicle but it's also the vehicle that they use for their commercial business. Which is not a trash hauling business, by the way. So the way I was reading the rules, is that they can use that flatbed as long as it's no more than two 33 gallon trash bags. MR. GOODALE: That's correct. MS. KIMBALL: Okay, great. Thank you for that clarification, I appreciate it. Chair, I realize a little off topic but it is the same rule. So I figured it was okay. MR. GOODALE: Sure. MS. KIMBALL: Mahalo, I yield. MR. MANSOUR: And I also just want to make it clear we're not banning trailers from all the facilities. They still can go to the landfill, because it's larger and they can maneuver. But unfortunately these transfer stations when they designed them they did not consider the turn radius for these trailers as they come in, and they do the turn and they back up. So that's the challenge we have. MR. GOODALE: And just to add on to what the Director said, that we also allow the trailers at the East Hawaii Organics and the West Hawaii Organics. So overall there are four different facilities where the trailers are allowed. Page 7 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, other questions from the Council? I am not seeing any. Our Corp Counsel is missing. Okay, so Director, you and I have had conversations about this. And I think Greg we also touched on this, on several different levels. Trailers here on the Big Island are almost ubiquitous, everybody has trailers. Waimea area, I'm sure Ka`u area, a lot of livestock trailers and they're used for hauling everything. It's very common in Waimea to have people using horse trailers hauling their rubbish, just because that's what we do. This also been a concern raised by our kupuna group, that it's easier for them in a little trailer to get things out as opposed to trying get things out of a pickup truck or something like that. And so there are other reasons and considerations for the use of little trailers. And like I said I think on the Big Island I know we are, or at one time at least we were, the highest percentage of pickup trucks per capita in the nation. And I think trailers, was probably going to be a close second on that one. So the point on that is this is something very commonplace for the Big Island, and I don't want to discount the safety concern. With that being said, there are other concerns that are related to safety as well, which support the use of trailers. And when Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder brought this forth as a potential conversation, I think Greg when we were in Waimea having the conversation this was one of things that first came out right away "Oh what about the trailers." And so this is on everybody's mind is not unique to North Hawaii, South Hawaii, East or West, it's all. And so a categorical statement, I think we may to work a little harder to come up with a solution. I see our Corporation Counsel is back. You want to come on up, and catch us up. So we're going to park that conversation for a second. Yeah, you can take off your mask. MS. STRANCE: Thank you. Elizabeth Strance, Corporation Counsel. Thank you for the few minutes, I just wanted to confirm in our office what the conversation was. Whether it was around a procurement around improving the transfer stations or rule making. It was around rule making. So the lengthy process that was being discussed is that to change a rule requires presentation of that rule and a number of public hearings and the process laid out by the Hawai` i Revised Statute. So it's not a process that cannot be undertaken, but it is a process. And so, I think that was what Ramzi was referring to. And so if there's desire to have rule changes, that's certainly something our office can work with the Department of Environmental Management on. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you. And thanks for that clarification. Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Strance. I mean it was interesting to hear that we could not revisit this without appealing it, which I found to be a—will make it incredibly difficult to proceed with any kind of rules in this county if that was the process that would be followed. If the process can Page 8 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 be changed, I'm going to urge you to change it. This rule is going to put our rural communities, which is basically anyone who is not near Hilo or Kona landfills, at an incredible disadvantage. We don t have any services, we've lost days at our transfer stations already. And our kupuna, the people who don't own a truck, are going to have to put this garbage in the back of their SUV or their cars to get it to the transfer station or the landfill. Because they don't have the resources, they don't have the ability, or they just cannot get to the Hilo landfill or to the West Hawaii landfill to take care of this. I think the rule is garbage, I think you've got to take it back. I understand this came from a previous Administration, now you're acting upon a series of meetings and a process that was followed but I really think you got to revisit this and take a hard look at who it's going to affect, and how to better care for our rural communities because they are the ones, who are going to suffer. I'm just going to be blunt, I said it from the beginning I didn't like the rule. And then it disappeared, and came back. And now I'm going to say it again, I do not like this rule. It needs some adjustment, it needs work. And if you can bring it back with a little bit of leeway for the people who don't have access to what we would have had in other counties are closer to town, then this could work for the people. But right now, this doesn't work for at least my community. So mahalo for that. I don't know if you have an answer. Thank you, Ms. Strance, for weighing in on that as well, I appreciate you. MR. MANSOUR: Yeah, I just want to for the record say, you know, when we first entered the new Administration and started this, this was a sensitive issue to me. I understand the amount of trailers here, and everybody has one. That's why we worked to try to extend the time under the proclamation. I worked with the Deputy Corporation Counsel, and we were able to extend it to try and figure a way. But like I said, the safety is number one concern. We could come address the rule, but it's not going to take the safety away. So we need to look, we cannot ignore safety, you know, that's a different topic But as a department head when somebody tells me its safety issues that could injure somebody, or it could hurt somebody badly, then it's an issue we need to address. And we could address the safety issue by redesigning the site. And we could come back and redesign the sites, make it safe for everybody to use, and then, you know, start allowing trailers to go back in. And I think that's where the challenge is. You're going to weigh safety versus convenience. And if we get somebody injured, one lawsuit could take all that away. Once again, if it wasn't safety concerns, it was just because of delays around people appealing in the line, yeah, we could address that. But the challenge to me was brought up as a safety. And it was acted on just before the new Administration took place. But as we took over the department, I just wanted to make sure what was the cause. That's why we created that Safety Committee, to give me that confirmation. Page 9 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 MR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Mahalo. Chair, I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Any other comments? Mr. Inaba. MR. INABA: Aloha, yeah. I was able to attend the last community meeting here in Kona. And I'm just wondering in the two previous meetings, Greg, how many people from the community attend? MR. MANSOUR: We just had about two here, I was here with you when we attended. We had only two people attend. MR. INABA: I'm sorry Greg, for those two meetings prior to this last one. MR. GOODALL Yeah, for the meeting that was held in Waimea that Councilman Richards attended, I believe there was five, maybe six folks. Primarily those meetings were for our commercial haulers, you know, making them aware of the rules that were affecting the commercial haulers. But we also did have discussion at the other meetings, talking about some of these other things. Because some folks did show up that were interested in some of the other rules as well. So in Hilo it was primarily commercial haulers, I believe there were eight or nine, and I think we had maybe one member of the general public that wasn't attached to a hauling company. MR. INABA: Alright, I'm sorry. I just want to ask, the process by which you notified the public about these meetings was what? MR. GOODALL Well as I said, the meetings was primarily for the commercial haulers. So there were notices put into all the statements that we sent out to our commercial haulers, each month. And then we also put up signage on the scale house, because the audience that we were primarily targeting in that was the folks that are coming to the landfill every day, and as I said, commercial haulers. MR. INABA: Did signs go up at all of the transfer stations, or just the landfills? MR. GOODALL At just the Hilo reload facility, and the West Hawaii landfill. Because that's the only two places that the commercial haulers are allowed to come. MR. INABA: Okay. And I think what I'm getting at here, is that the public who are reaching out now are expressing concern and these rules affect people not just those who go to the landfills, but those who go to the transfer station who are no longer able to use trailers there. So I'm a little concerned, especially that I was able to attend one of these meetings that extended the start date of this rule and there were only two, or three people there. So moving forward, I'm not sure about this rule specifically. But moving forward if we're going to be doing rules Page 10 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 like this, it might benefit us to get the news out a little bit better so that the community who's going to be affected by these rules, are able to chime in before they take effect. So I just wanted share that, having been to a meeting myself. Chair, I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Mr. Inaba. Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Director. I think in listening to the discussion among my colleagues. The concerns that I'm hearing, is not commercial in nature. There basically everyday people, that have a little tiny trailer that they pull in back of their car. Mainly our kupuna, or people my age that take their trash to the transfer stations. And so I'm hearing that a lot of the safety issues that you speak of, is basically relating to large trailers, commercial -type. And I'm just asking that, is there a possibility for household trash that there in the rule-making process will there be an option to State exemptions for household trailers of a certain size? That's one, just food for thought. Because I think that's the concerns, I'm hearing. It's not commercial people that are hauling their trash in big trailers, and dump trucks. Its regular citizens that happen to have a small little tiny trailer that are being greatly impacted by this rule. And so that's number one, whether you would consider some sort of an exception to this, so that at least you would let the community know that you are hearing not from commercials, because that has been a problem for a long time. Commercial haulers using our residential transfer stations. So that's my one suggestion. And then this is basically premise entirely, or if not majority of the reasoning for this is due to the safety and liability issues. So off the top of your head, how many of those incidences have we had at transfer stations where a staff person wereI mean how many have we experienced that would pretty much raise this to the concern that I'm hearing today, how many incidents? MR. MANSOUR: That is a good question. Actually that's the same question I asked staff, when they brought it to my attention. And the answer was the reason it became a rule, because of the number of safety accidents they have, and I'll have my Division Chief out to that. But it's a great question and I was the first one, I asked them as far as, there's two issues the way I look at it. There's that safety issue that we need to address, no matter what we do. And the other one is the rule making, and how we're going to come about modifying it and changing it. And there's a process for that. And I'm open to all suggestions. Actually one of the suggestions I gave staff is maybe to allow one day a week just for trailers, you know. But yeah, that doesn't take the safety away. So yes, we're open for any suggestions that may come, and reconsider going through the process. But there is a process we have to go through. Page 11 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 MS. DAVID: Well yes, just food for thought on that. Because I know this doesn't end right now, because it's a ongoing process. But I just really want to make the point, that I think the impact is being felt by your ordinary citizens. And mainly our kupuna, and our senior citizens, yeah. MR. MANSOUR: Yes, I totally understand. And I think also there's a confusion, maybe Greg can add to that. I don't think commercial trailers are allowed at the transfer station. MS. DAVID: But they do. They do have large, large double trailers, I've seen them that come in. And I know that's probably what's to me, the concern is. Because when I see them, I really think that they should not be at a transfer station. They need to be at the landfill. MR. MANSOUR: Exactly. MS. DAVID: But I also see this little mom and pop couple that, you know, has a little tiny wooden trailer, that their pulling behind their small car or whatever, with their household goods. So I think this matter is deserving of some attention, because it's not a one size fits all. And I just wanted to bring that to the forefront for consideration, because it's an important issue. MR. MANSOUR: No, thank you, and I agree. You know, like I said, unfortunately I even asked if Deputy Counsel could make the decision as a Director. Unfortunately there's a process we have to follow. MS. DAVID: I understand that, yeah. MR. MANSOUR: And yes, we will be looking at that, and try to definitely do some accommodation and try to look at, you know, how we could get there. And maybe at least start with the three sites, that maybe we could do some improvement on. But yes. MS. DAVID: Okay, I appreciate it. Just food for thought. Thank you. Mahalo, I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Now it is 2:10 p.m., and I promised the Chair for the next committee we're going to be going to recess if we need to. Where are we with this conversation, are there any Council Members that want to ask the Director a few more questions? I am hearing none. So with that, I think we can close this out. Director as I see we have one, or two choices before us. Revisit the rules, I realize we have to go through rule-making process, that's one option; second option is consider a suspension of this rule for a period of time. And again, this is something I'm just putting out there so we know kind of where we're headed. And then you and I can have a visit maybe come back, and talk to the Council again in another month or so. Page 12 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 MR. MANSOUR: I just want to make it clear, I don't think we could suspend the rule. I was told I can't. CHR. RICHARDS: Alright, okay. MR. MANSOUR: And the reason we extended it, because it was under the proclamation. So we cannot suspend it. CHR. RICHARDS: In interest of time period, I want to be respectful of the next committee for the State. What we're going to do is close this out, and then terminate this meeting. Then you and I will have a follow-up conversation. We need to get back to the Council, or through the committee within the next probably two meeting cycles. So about within the next month or so. So with that we have a communication on the floor to close file. All signify by saying "aye." Vote on Comm. 207: The motion to close file on Comm. 207 was carried by (Approved) the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas and Chair Richards — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR the Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, we are at the end of our agenda. Page 13 RAWEEMC-6 April 20, 2021 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 2:12 p.m., Ms. Lee Loy moved to MENT: adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms. Kimball and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Inaba Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, Lee Loy, Villegas, and Chair Richards — 9 Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. RICHARDS: We stand in adjourned at 2:12 p.m. .Approved: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim' Richards, III, Chair Regenerative Agriculture, Water, Energy and Environmental Management Committee HR/rk SI,rbIz) (Date) Page 14